â€śThe Babadookâ€ť has one helluva title. In fact, it might be my favourite thing about an otherwise effective horror film. I mean, seriously. Babadook? It just rolls off the tongue. It sounds like the sort of creation stripped from the pages of a storybook, with dark seeds of threat sewn just beneath its ostensibly hummable veneer. Director Jennifer Kentâ€™s feature debut owes a debt to the works of Roman Polanski and to a lesser degree Sam Raimi, the film utilising psychological torment and macabre boo moments to keep its audience on red alert. It begins with raging intent, signified by its wild, ethereal compositions and deliberately overwrought sound design, and builds steadily until its slightly clapped out ending. The thematic underpinnings of the feature are explored with a thorough eye, but maybe work to dispel some of the pictureâ€™s ultimate power. All the best horror flicks leave viewers shaken for hours, threatening to taunt them during moments of loneliness or even lurch uncomfortably into their slumber. â€śThe Babadookâ€ť probably wonâ€™t manage that. In acutely essaying the notion of horrors past, the film sacrifices the hope of impressing lasting fear. Maybe, just maybe, Babadooks (I honestly donâ€™t know what the plural for a Babadook is.) arenâ€™t so frightening after all.

Amelia (Essie Davis) is haunted by the memory of her husband Oskar (Benjamin Winspear), who lost his life the day of their son Samuelâ€™s (Noah Wiseman) birth. Struggling to pay the bills and control Samuelâ€™s increasingly volatile behaviour, Amelia reaches breaking point when the child becomes obsessed with The Babadook, a nefarious being plucked from the pages of an ominous text. Despite Ameliaâ€™s insistence, Samuel refuses to relent, maintaining that the creature is hunting them. Amelia turns to medication, Samuelâ€™s nightly ritual preventing her from ascertaining rest, leaving her unable to function at work or in the domestic realm. As her discomfort mounts, Ameliaâ€™s dreams become stranger and her waking hours plagued by visions. Is Oskarâ€™s demise finally prevailing, or might Samuelâ€™s ravings be more fact than fiction?

Iâ€™m not sure how Kentâ€™s own familial background is coloured, nor would I dare speculate, but she fashions a fascinating portrait of guilt, shame and resentment in â€śThe Babadookâ€ť. The monster grows from Ameliaâ€™s uneasy relationship with Samuel, permanently pitching the value of his life against that of the deceased Oskar. Ellie Davis grapples with the complex arc remarkably well, communicating Ameliaâ€™s inconsistent thought process in aggressive but authentic ways. Sheâ€™s desperate to protect her tempestuous son, but the actress is equally able to sell scattered moments of shameful hatred. Davis is protected by good writing and Kentâ€™s clever film-making style, prioritising unsettling edits and trippy lensing to capture the essence of the characterâ€™s fractured psyche. Amelia is a victim, with the filmic and thespian contribution ensuring sheâ€™s familiar enough to glean empathy, whilst complex enough to cater for the pictureâ€™s thesis on monsters born from memory. Noah Wisemanâ€™s concerted and natural turn comes with sufficient energy, itâ€™s tiring to watch him, but such are Samuelâ€™s levels of conviction, it becomes understandable why Amelia never fully ignores his babbling. Kent deserves plaudits for extracting such a finely tuned performance from a child, one that serves her overall vision slickly.

Mister Babadook is an inspired creation, defined by queasy Illustrations, Ripper-esque costuming and posture modelled after the assorted fiends of German Expressionism. The monster is evil, harking back to John Carpenterâ€™s â€śHalloweenâ€ť and a time when that alone was enough to justify fear. â€śThe Babadookâ€ť doesnâ€™t touch on myth or legend, and thankfully lacks a sequence in which Amelia seeks a weary, occult expert to help tackle the beast. The characterâ€™s struggle and the monster are bonded, one defined entirely by the other. Kent establishes this early, and ensures that itâ€™s going to be a domestic showdown, a childâ€™s life hanging in the balance. The stakes are simple, but the implications are huge, â€śThe Babadookâ€ť mapping its crucial conflict within a ravaged mind, where only the afflicted can earn peace or liberation. Davisâ€™ convincing fragility lends each bumpy jolt all the more weight. There are no extraneous or superfluous sequences here. Each beat could be the one that costs Amelia her sanity and Samuel his life, affording every creak and scream the ability to affect the storyâ€™s outcome.

Kentâ€™s fixations are incredibly mature, and her focus is stellar. â€śThe Babadookâ€ť never sells out, safeguarding its human interests, even when the shit hits the fan. Many genre film-makers might let the chicanery get the better of them, obsessing over the antagonistâ€™s power, with Amelia and Samuel wilting in the background. Right up to the final frames, the feature is their story, a tale devoted to the universal truths of waking nightmares reborn. That said, â€śThe Babadookâ€ť climaxes on an impossibly tidy note, shuffling the dangers of the past into the proverbial basement. I suppose given the filmâ€™s stance on evading or escaping grief, â€śThe Babadookâ€ť could only end one way, but itâ€™s unsatisfying. After the furious orgy or upset that precedes the finish, itâ€™s curious to watch â€śThe Babadookâ€ť tame grief and a potentially nuclear mother/son dynamic so confidently. Fearsome, achingly human pains become a grumpy, yet domesticated housecat. Iâ€™m not sure thatâ€™s quite the climax this creation and the brave examination of maternal strife warranted. The conviction of the drama gets washed away, leaving something more generic in its wake.

OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2014 Sundance Film Festival For more in the 2014 Sundance Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2014 Stanley Film Festival For more in the 2014 Stanley Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2014 Fantastic Fest For more in the 2014 Fantastic Fest series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2014 Chicago International Film Festival For more in the 2014 Chicago International Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2014 Hawaii International Film Festival For more in the 2014 Hawaii International Film Festival series, click here.

User Comments

10/30/16

morris campbell

not bad but the ending was rather silly

1/19/16

Alexis H

More sophisticated horror that is more in touch with reaility than most

5/20/15

brian

Classic horror, just not for slasher and jump-scare fans.

4/29/15

The Big D

Some scary bits, but the ending is somewhat cheesy.

3/06/15

Meep

Quite boring, nut I'm usually thoroughly bored by so called horror films

1/29/15

Simplefilmreviews

Best horror movie of 2014

12/19/14

Langano

Babastupid.

11/18/14

MVC

meh, the ending is thoughtless btw

11/12/14

PAUL SHORTT

SUPERB, MOVING, EFFECTIVE HORROR WITH A GREAT STAR PERFORMANCE

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!Note: Duplicate, 'planted,' or other obviously improper commentswill be deleted at our discretion. So don't bother posting 'em. Thanks!